


The Future is Brewing

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hogwarts Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-25
Updated: 2006-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-27 08:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10805841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: There are no accidents. Only destiny.-- Julius Caesar





	The Future is Brewing

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

  
Author's notes: Beta: [](http://cormallen.livejournal.com/profile)[**cormallen**](http://cormallen.livejournal.com/)  
AU(ish) 7th year. Written for [](http://elenorlaura.livejournal.com/profile)[**elenorlaura**](http://elenorlaura.livejournal.com/) as part of [](http://reetinkerbell.livejournal.com/profile)[**reetinkerbell**](http://reetinkerbell.livejournal.com/)'s [Fantastic Clichés And Why You Should Write Them Fic-A-Thon](http://reetinkerbell.livejournal.com/268983.html)  


* * *

  
"Let's get this over with, Granger," drawled Draco Malfoy as he shoved open the door to the Potions Lab.

"Look, Malfoy," Hermione retorted with equal displeasure, "this isn't exactly how I want to spend my Saturday, either."

"Yes, I imagine there's a stack of books you're just dying to get your hands on."

"As I'm sure you're eager to get your hands on Pansy Parkinson," Hermione smirked, feeling quite clever.

"Oh, good one that was, Granger. Little do you know that I wouldn't touch that tart on a bet."

"Mmhmm," Hermione hummed, rolling her eyes.

"Did you just roll your eyes?" Draco snapped. "Not that I should even bother explaining this to _you_ , but I happen to take pride in where I aim my _wand_." \

"You did not just say that." Hermione's lip curled and she rolled her eyes again.

Draco's face reddened. "This is bloody ridiculous. I'm going to Snape."

"Is there a problem, Mr. Malfoy?" asked Professor Snape as he entered the room. Hermione wondered how long he'd been lurking outside the door.

"Professor, you can't honestly expect this to work," Draco groaned.

Snape snapped his head toward Draco, issuing a very annoyed glare, then eyed Hermione; his lip curled in the usual sneer. "Mr. Malfoy, like it or not, Miss Granger happens to be a most highly adept Potions maker. I imagine she will be well sought after for her Potions abilities after she completes her studies."

Hermione thought it quite odd that a person could issue a compliment with such a bitter tone of disgust. It was even odder that Professor Snape seemed quite interested in her Potions work this year. She tried to convince herself that she was finally getting what had been due for so long, but she feared otherwise.

"But, Professor!" whinged Draco.

Snape's eyebrow arched. "There are no 'buts' about it, Mr. Malfoy. You have your assignment. Cease stalling and do as you're told."

Draco sighed and muttered, "If my father weren't--"

"Is that a threat, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape snarled; Draco pursed his lips and looked at his feet. "I thought not." Hermione stifled a giggle.

Snape turned on his heel, paused, then spun around and glared at Hermione. "Miss Granger, you and Mr. Malfoy will not leave this room until _he_ has successfully brewed the Potion. He is to prepare _his own_ potion, is that clear?" Hermione nodded. "You will not do his work as you do for that fool Longbottom."

Draco chuckled.

Snape whipped his head in Draco's direction. "And Mr. Malfoy, do keep your ladle out of Miss Granger's cauldron." With a swish of his full robes, Professor Snape swept from the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Hermione blushed, looking away from Draco.

"Don't worry, Granger, my _ladle_ has no interest in your _cauldron_."

"Good grief! Let's get on with this, shall we?" Hermione opened up her Advanced Potions Text book, turned to the assigned page and read, " _Oculus Coloro_? This is what you need help with?"

"Shut it, Granger," Draco ordered. "My skills lie in Charms, not Potions."

"I simply meant that I don't see why you need help brewing a potion that we haven't even done in class yet. And why on earth do you need to change your eye color anyway?

"I don't believe it's your business to question why, is it?"

"If you're doing it to change your appearance, why not just take Polyjuice? This Potion is rather obsolete."

" _Some wizards_ are allergic to Polyjuice, you know."

"You're allergic to Polyjuice?"

"Did I say that?"

Hermione shut her book with a load bang, scooped it into her arms and headed toward the door.

"Where do you think you're going? You heard Snape."

"I am not going to aid and abet _your kind_." Hermione pulled on the door, but it didn't budge. "Alohomora," she muttered, pointing her wand at the handle. "Damn it!"

"Is your bushy hair clogging your ears? That door's not going to open until you teach me how to brew this potion."

Hermione stomped back over to the work top and slammed her book down. "Fine," she took a deep breath and put on what Harry and Ron referred to as her 'McGonagall tone', "I'll brew the potion first. Pay attention! It's not as simple as you."

Draco sneered, but remained silent.

"First you will need to _carefully_ extract the juice of two dozen _Vaccinium myrtillus_ berries…"

Hermione continued to instruct as she prepared and added each ingredient. She actually found it to be a fascinating potion to brew and quickly became engrossed in her work. Draco, on the other hand, was neither impressed nor interested. Although he kept his eyes on her, he had tuned Hermione out after the first two minutes.

Finally, she ladled a small portion of her finished potion into a cup and held it out to Draco.

"What?" he asked, shaking his head to bring his thoughts back to current events.

"I said, it's done." Hermione clicked her tongue.

"Ok, so?"

"So drink it then. Your eyes will change to bright blue."

"Blue?"

Hermione sighed. "Due to the _Indigofera tinctoria_. You have been paying attention haven't you?"

"Of course I have been." Draco huffed, snatched the cup from Hermione's hand and swallowed the potion in one gulp. "Tastes much better than Polyjuice, that's for sure."

Hermione raised her eyebrow suspiciously; not that she was innocent in matters of Polyjuice, but Draco...

Suddenly, she squealed with delight and clapped her hands loudly.

"I take it that means it worked?"

"Of course it worked!"

Draco tapped his wand in the palm of his hand and muttered, " _Aspicio_." A small hand mirror appeared in his hand.

"Naturally you'd know how to do that charm."

"Charms are my specialty, as I've mentioned." Draco looked at himself in the mirror. He turned his head from side to side, smiling almost amorously, Hermione thought. "My God, I didn't think I could get any better looking than I already was, but this is smashing."

"Alright, enough admiring yourself." Hermione rolled her eyes, taking the mirror from Draco's hand. "Brew the potion so we can get out of here."

Draco laughed. "You didn't honestly think I was going to do the work myself, did you?" He picked up his ladle and was about to dip into Hermione's cauldron when she slapped his hand away.

"You can't do that, Malfoy."

"Please, it's not like you're above cheating, Granger. Everyone knows you've been brewing Longbottom's potions for almost seven years."

"No, you ignoramus, Snape said not to, don't you remember?"

"He was being facetious, Granger."

"Snape does not have a sense of humor, Malfoy. He was being literal."

Draco shoved Hermione aside, quickly plunging his ladle into her potion. He smirked cleverly as he poured the contents into the bottle he'd been provided. However, Hermione wasn't so easily convinced he'd get away with it. She cringed, waiting for the consequence that was certain to follow.

Sure enough, the moment Draco pushed the cork into the bottle, they heard a loud, high-pitched whistling sound and the cork shot straight into the air, hitting the ceiling then ricocheting off the walls of the room. Both Hermione and Draco had to duck down repeatedly to avoid being hit by it. The potion supplies they had used were not so lucky, spilling out onto the desk and floor. The chaos finally ended when Draco stretched out his arm and managed to catch the speeding cork in his hand as though it was the Golden Snitch.

Despite herself, Hermione grinned slightly, although Draco was anything but pleased. "Fuck!" he exclaimed upon noticing that the potion in the vial had vanished, as well as the entire contents of Hermione's cauldron.

"I told—"

"Save it, Granger," barked Draco as he picked his text book up off the floor. He slammed it down on the desktop and angrily flipped through the pages. With a wave of his wand and a muttered cleansing charm, the desk was cleared of all mess. "Make yourself useful and go get more supplies from the store cupboard," he ordered.

"I will not!" Hermione folded her arms across her chest and sat down with a hmmph. "You're on your own this time."

"You've been instructed to help me, Granger," Draco reminder her in a haughty tone.

"I've shown you how to properly brew the potion already. If you were paying attention, you'll have no problem doing it all on your own—as _you_ were instructed." She smiled smugly.

"Fine! I don't need help from the likes of you."

That was the last straw. Hermione spun her desk to face the wall rather than Draco. _Good bloody luck!_ , she thought angrily.

~~~~~~~~

"Done," Draco announced, a little over an hour later. Hermione didn't respond. He looked over and released an annoyed sigh. "Granger, did you hear me? I said I've finished the potion." Still, there was no reply. Draco huffed, ladled a generous amount of his potion into a vial and approached Hermione.

"I don’t believe it." Bending down so that his mouth was right next to her ear, he shouted, **"Wake up, Granger!** ".

Startled, Hermione stumbled to her feet. "Wha-what? My God, Draco, why are you screaming at me? Has something happened? Gone mental, have you?"

"You bloody fell asleep!" he barked irately.

"Well, it was taking you forever."

"Here." Draco thrust the vial of potion at Hermione.

"I am _not_ going to drink that," she refused emphatically.

"It's perfect. I followed the instructions precisely."

"If you're so confident, you drink it."

"Fine." With a smirk, Draco swallowed the contents of the small vial in one gulp. He smiled smugly and waited for Hermione to praise him for a job well done.

"It didn't work," she informed him in a tone that suggested she had expected this.

"What do you mean? It had to have worked. I was precise."

"Well, your eyes are still blue." Hermione clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "You couldn't have used the _Indigofera tinctoria_ ; I used the last of it. Which coloring agent did you add?"

Draco glanced over at the work station, then turned back to Hermione, staring at her with an expression she'd never seen on his face. He dropped the vial, grabbed her by both arms and pulled her forcefully toward him.

She opened her mouth to shout, but before she was able to make a sound, Draco had pressed his lips firmly against hers. His grip was so tight she couldn't budge. He frantically tried to push his tongue past her tightly closed lips.

Hermione let out a muffed scream of protest, but he didn't stop. She did the only other thing she could think of; she parted her lips, allowing his tongue to enter her mouth, then she bit down as hard as she could.

"Ow! Fuck! What did you do that for?" Draco lisped as he patted his tongue with the back of his hand.

"What did _I_ \-- bloody hell! What did _you_... argh!" Hermione couldn't gather her thoughts enough to form a complete sentence. She was shaking and breathing rapidly, barely able to believe what had just happened. Draco, however, stared at her with intense hunger burning in his eyes. If Hermione didn't know better, she'd have thought he'd been hexed.

"I've wanted to do that for _ages_ ," Draco sighed with relief, approaching Hermione again. She jumped back. He followed, stepping on a piece of the broken glass from the vial he had dropped.

"The potion!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Bloody hell! Forget about the potion, Hermione. I want you."

Gasping, Hermione dodged Draco and ran over to the work station. She gasped again when she looked down at the Potions text book. " _Occultus Cupido_?" she read the name of the potion slowly, with great disbelief. "Do you know what you've brewed?"

"Yeah, that eye color changing stuff." Draco laughed lightly as though Hermione had just told him a funny joke.

"No, Malfoy! That's _Oculus Coloro_!" Hermione snapped in the tone of a teacher dealing with a disobedient student. "You turned to the wrong page when you picked up the book." She exhaled a small laugh, thinking how utterly ridiculous this entire morning had turned out, and read down the list of ingredients. "This is a complicated potion; I'm surprised that you were even able to brew it. It's also quite potent."

Suddenly, Draco's arms wrapped around Hermione's waist from behind. "You're so smart." He nuzzled his nose through her hair and nibbled her earlobe. "I find that very sexy."

"No, no, oh, no!" She turned to face him, still trapped in his embrace, and shook her head firmly.

"Oh, yes!" Draco corrected, following up with an embarrassingly flirtatious growl.

"Malfoy, listen to me," she said seriously. "This potion awakens the secrets of the heart and soul," she spoke the words as if reading them from the text. " _Occultus Cupido_ means _Hidden Desire_. Didn't you read that part?"

Completely unalarmed by this news, Draco smiled and brought his hand to the front of his jeans. "That would explain this then, I suppose," he muttered as he rubbed the growing bulge underneath.

Hermione felt her face burn from embarrassment. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. "No!" she shouted, peeking her eyes open just in time to see Draco lick his lips as he leaned his face toward hers, puckering up. She whimpered and leaned as far back as she could.

"Fuck!" she shouted in frustration.

"That's what I'm talking about," Draco cooed.

"You idiot, the potion!" Hermione yelled, pushing him away and spinning around to face the desk. She had accidentally knocked over the cauldron in her effort to avoid being kissed and it was pouring out over the desktop and down onto the floor. She set the cauldron upright and scooped up as much of the potion as she could. But as she went to pour a handful of it back into the cauldron she paused suddenly, staring down at her hands.

"Oh no. Oh my God!" She watched in shock as the thick purple liquid seeped into her skin. She tried to wipe it off with a cloth, but it was too late. "I don't believe this is happening." She sighed as she hung her head.

Draco placed his hand on her shoulder. "Mmm, you haven't seen anything ye—"

Before Draco could get the rest of the word out, Hermione spun around and threw her arms around his neck, plastering her mouth against his. This time, she willingly parted her lips, meeting his eager tongue with her own and moaning instead of shouting screams of protest.

Their passion was equally as intense as both explored the others backs and shoulders with excited hands. They snogged enthusiastically. Draco nipped at Hermione's lip and jaw. Hermione ran her hand into the back of his hair, pulled his head back forcefully and ran her tongue along his neck, stopping to suck at the spot just above his collarbone.

" _Oh yeah_ ," Draco moaned, reaching down to cup Hermione's bum in both hands. He arched his back as he pulled their bodies closer together. The feeling of his erection pressing against her sent a bolt of pleasure straight between her thighs, dampening her knickers. She lifted her leg and wrapped it around his hip, shifting her hips back and forth, thoroughly enjoying the friction.

Draco grabbed her hair with one hand and brought their mouths together again. He shoved his tongue as far into her mouth as he could while he thrust his hips in time with hers.

" _What_ is going on in here?" demanded Professor Snape, striding quickly into the room, letting the door slam close behind him.

Hermione gasped and dropped her foot to the floor. She turned bright red and buried her face against Draco neck. Draco, however, casually turn his face toward the scowling Professor, one hand still on Hermione's bottom.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Is _this_ the way you've been spending the past two hours?" He glared at Hermione suspiciously.

Hermione cringed although she couldn't see the issued look. She was totally embarrassed, even though she still felt quite hot with desire.

Spotting the mess on the work station and the floor beneath, Snape snarled, cross the room in just a few long strides, then peered a bit warily into the cauldron. Leaning down, he sniffed what remained of the potion. " _Occultus Cupido_?" he drawled in a surprised voice. Hermione finally separated herself from Draco, stepping away, she faced Snape.

"Was this your idea, Draco?" he asked, and Hermione could swear she saw an impressed twinkle in his eye.

Draco cleared his throat and shifted his feet. He seemed to be contemplating how to answer.

"Well?"

"It was actually a mistake," answered Draco with a laugh.

"A mistake?" Snape actually snickered. "Brilliant, just brilliant."

Hermione stared at him, shocked by his jovial tone. She worried that he had finally snapped and waited for the pending consequences.

"Professor, it was my fault. I should have been paying closer attention to what Draco was brewing," she came to Draco's defense, thinking it necessary.

"Miss Granger, you are dismissed." Professor Snape waved his hand toward the door.

"But—" Hermione looked into Draco's eyes, which were still deep blue, silently asking if he'd be alright. He leaned into her ear and whispered, "It's fine. Meet me in the courtyard in half an hour." Hermione glanced back at Snape, he grinned slightly, sending an eerie chill down her spin. She nodded to Draco and dashed out of the room.

~~~~~~~~

As Hermione sat in the courtyard, anxiously awaiting Draco's arrival, she fiddled with the hem of her blouse. Everything in the Potions lab had happened so fast that she hadn't had any time to fully absorb the intensity. It was so surreal. She had long ago discounted the possibility of ever being able to reveal her hidden feelings for Draco and thus had, on the surface, convinced herself that they didn't exist. She knew that it would never work between them. How could it? They were of different worlds and besides, they'd be graduating soon and going their separate ways.

She sighed at the thought of where Draco was headed. _Yes_ , she thought, _I'll set things straight the moment he arrives._

"Hermione?" Draco called quietly, pulling her out of her thoughts. She jumped to her feet, her heart flipping over. Immediately Draco closed the short distance between them, taking her into his arms. Their mouths locked at once.

All thoughts of _talking_ with Draco… about anything… vanished from Hermione's mind. She moaned as she again felt the hardness beneath his trousers press against her hip. She'd worry about the other issues later, for at the moment all that matter was getting as much of Draco Malfoy as she could.

"Occultus Cupido," Snape muttered as he watched the newfound lovers from inside the castle. "Who would have thought that brilliant little Mudblood was holding a secret torch for our boy, eh Medea?" Snape ran his sleek fingers down the back of his ebony owl. Taking a sheet of parchment from the pocket of his robes, he glanced at his words one last time.

_The future is brewing._

With a satisfied grin, he folded the note and tied it to the bird's leg. "Off to the Master, my pet."

Holding his chin in his hand, Snape watched his owl fly over the heads of the 'next generation' and surprisingly felt a slight pang of envy. It seemed like only yesterday that he himself was recruited as Potions Maker to the Dark Lord...

He knew it would take considerable effort to convince the golden girl of Gryffindor, a hot-headed Mudblood no less, to work for them, but the utterly adoring way she was now gazing at Draco brought him back to the day a strikingly similar young Death Eater approached him with an offer he couldn't refuse. Desire combined with charm made for quite a persuasive concoction.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


End file.
